A short story: Conquistar - chapter 2

Samantha and Gemma laid near the comfort of the steady fire enjoying the absence of both of their parents. They were free to converse without the slightest care of their discussion entering into their Father's inflexible ears.

“I wonder what he is up to tonight?”

“Thinking of you,” Gemma replied wanting to believe her own statement. “I suppose a man like him with such gentle-man character is a first for you.”

“And I hope he is the last.”  said Samantha with a sparkle that makes a diamond appear as a common rock.

“I hope so too Samantha.”

“I shall be seeing him tomorrow."

"How exciting. Your smile does show that you are eager for it. You were never good at hiding anything away. You are too innocent and transparent."

Ignoring the veracity of the statement, Samantha replied:

"It has only been two days since I saw him and I am sentient that I have missed him forever. Is this true love?”

“Mother would be better suited to tell you if it is. I have never been in love, although I know what love is in other forms but not in a romantic one.”

“I do hope you feel it one day as I do now, and you shall understand that there is nothing like it.”

“You have only met him twice.” retorted Gemma locking eyes with her sister.

“I know,” contemplated Samantha, “And that is what makes it all the more remarkable. That my heart should beat with such an extraordinary desire to see him again.”

“If Mother was here,” said Gemma impersonating her mother's voice with all of the gestures too. “I am sure she will say, young gazelle it is not always wise to be swift. Sometimes it is better to be a patient snail. And father would say..”

Gemma held her tongue.

“I know what he would say.”  replied Samantha keeping back the hidden tears she cried alone whenever her father expressed his great disappointment in her.

“Let's not think about him until we have to see him, Sammy.”

“He is still our father, and mother says that deep down he loves us. He only has those old fashioned traits in him where it is not manly to show much affections.”

“I wonder how mother copes with him,” Gemma sadly expressed, “I hope never to marry a man like that.”

"And I wish you no such thing. Although Father has one of the highest jobs in the land, yet it is tragic that he still thinks in the old manner regarding young women. He wants us married and to be under some nobleman. He was very much against my schooling and wanted me to perfect the role of housewife. But Mother would want no such things for her girls. She wants them educated and only her could persuade him where the queen herself would have failed."

"It is all because we have no need of money," replied Gemma. "If we were like the Gothers, I am sure Father would encourage us to make something of ourselves, where we are in a good position to make our own living. Mary Gother always tells me how her Father encourages her to live relying on no man but on her own hands. If she could not work for it herself then one should not have it. She wishes to be like us, to have a Father to whom money does not require a hard toil."

"It is as they say that to one's eyes, the grass is always greener on the other side."

"It is not so green here."

"We must not complain so much younger sister. Our lot is indeed very fortunate and even though we may like Father to be something else, yet he has cared for us and given us those things which brought us to maturity."

"He has only given us material things, dear sister. Nothing so much as affection and love. Nothing so much as in having a care about our interest, namely in those things that charms our heart most. Only mother cares for us in such a way."

"He is a man Gemma, and mother is a woman. She was once a girl and knows our ways. But I do speculate that if Father had a son then perhaps he would be to him as mother is to us."

"I do doubt that."

"But I believe that he would"

"On what evidence do you make such an assurance?"

Samantha paused for a while to think, but could not justify her faith. She looked towards the window and noticed the motherly moon suspended on the empty space. She thought again in her head the question:

"I wonder what he is up to tonight?"

K.Oni